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White House threatens to veto GOP tax cut

The White House on Thursday threatened to veto GOP legislation that would indefinitely extend a tax break for business write-offs.

In a statement of administration policy, the White House derided the bill as a “permanent corporate giveaway” that would add $287 billion to the deficit over the next decade.

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The break at issue is bonus depreciation, which allows companies to deduct an extra 50 percent from normal write-offs for certain capital investments.

The provision was among a host of temporary tax provisions that make up the so-called “extenders package,” which lawmakers are trying to put back in place after they all expired at the end of 2013.

The House is set to vote on the tax bill Friday.

Democrats have criticized Republicans for pushing indefinite extensions of some provisions, highlighting the hefty deficit bill that comes with them. In the Senate, Democrats are working on a plan to temporarily extend those tax provisions.

The White House noted in its opposition to the legislation that the price tag for the provision is more than 20 times the cost of a proposed extension of emergency unemployment benefits, which Republicans have insisted be offset with spending cuts elsewhere. The administration also criticized Republicans for advancing a business tax break while the House GOP budget calls on letting several tax credits relied on by middle- and lower-class Americans, like the Earned Income Tax Credit, to expire.

“The administration wants to work with the Congress to make progress on measures that strengthen the economy and help middle-class families, including pro-growth business tax reform,” the White House said in a statement. “However, making costly business tax cuts permanent without offsets represents the wrong approach.”